Frank, Mustard and Simon Calcavecchia

My name is Simon Calcavecchia and I am a children’s book author, motivational speaker and disability awareness advocate.

In 2002, I was injured in a rugby accident which left me with quadriplegia. After spending several months in rehabilitation I decided to go to college and after 4 years I emerged with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Evergreen State College. After graduating, I tried to find work with the help of the Department of Vocational Rehab but struggled to find any opportunity for employment.

I found myself floundering and depressed. I sought guidance from a counselor and it was suggested that I start volunteering in order to give me a sense of purpose and community. It worked! I began volunteering at local schools, a local theater, the co-op and finally at the children’s museum. It was there that I discovered there weren't any books which included characters with disabilities. This inspired me to create a book series and share my stories with kids about living with disabilities and using a wheelchair..

After a year of hard work, Arturo Alvarez and I created The Adventures of Frank and Mustard which is about a wiener dog named Frank who uses a wheelchair and his buddy Mustard, a little yellow bird. The themes of the books are about my own personal experiences such as when I got stuck in the mud in my wheelchair. The title of the first book I wrote called “Stuck in the mud”, related to the time when I got stuck on a trail in a botanical garden in Vancouver, BC.

Differently Awesome is a book about acceptance and inclusion based on my own experiences of being excluded and treated differently because I use a wheelchair. I wanted to share how we should not treat people unkindly or differently because they are differently abled.

Wheels and Waves is about when I went surfing at Westport, Washington with a team of friends who carried me across the sand and helped me experience riding a wave on a surfboard.

My latest book, Monster Truck’n is about when I got to drive a monster truck. I have many more stories and ideas to draw from and plan on continuing to add to the book series of the Adventures of Frank and Mustard for many years to come.

In addition to being an author, I became a motivational speaker and going to schools and sharing my story about how I became paralyzed, writing my books and how to not give up on one’s dreams. I mostly speak to elementary and middle school students but I find wherever I go my message of inclusion, acceptance, and never giving up, is warmly received.

Although my dreams for Frank and Mustard have been greatly impacted by the coronavirus, Arturo and I continue to work on creating more books that represent inclusion, kindness and acceptance.

Learn more about Frank and Mustard's creators: https://www.frankandmustard.com/about-us

Head to Youtube: The Adventures of Frank and Mustard to see Simon

Website: WWW.Frankandmustard.com

Check out FrankandMustard on Facebook

To check in with Simon about doing a presentation at your school or with your organization, contact Simon directly at Frankandmustard@gmail.com